CSRHub Blog Research on ESG metrics and comments on sustainability best practice

Our friends at Climate Counts have just released their 2012 Scorecard. It is the sixth time they have carefully reviewed the climate and environmental performance of a number of leading corporations—they scored 146 companies this year (up from 136 last year) on a number of different climate-related measures.

Climate Counts has earned wide respect for its careful and thoughtful measurement approach. When we started setting up our CSRHub database, they were one of the first groups we reached out to for advice and their approach to measuring climate performance had a big impact on our methodology. We showcase their 2010 and 2011 data on our site (www.csrhub.com/alter/flag/CLC) and will soon add the new 2012 data. This year, we were able to incorporate their information into the ratings for 124 of the 6,500+ companies we rate. (Climate Counts rates some entities we do not yet rate such as private companies—including some in special interest areas such as baby equipment and clothing—and the US Postal Service.)

We took a quick look at how well our scores match up with the new Climate Count scores. We currently have 823 different environment-area measurements from 79 different sources. They contribute 2.8 million data points to our environment category ratings. (We have more than 17 million data elements in our system, from about 185 sources). We were pleased to see a very strong 62% correlation between our Environment category rating (which includes resource management, environmental reporting, and climate change performance) and the Climate Counts score (which includes data on whether or not a company reviews its climate position, commits to reduce its climate effect, has an appropriate policy, and reports its policy).

We rarely see more than a 25% correlation between our scores and any single source of data. The strong relationship continues even when we drop down a level of detail and compare a subscore like the Climate Counts “REPORT” rating to our “Environmental Transparency & Reporting.”

We hope our users will benefit from this new contribution from one of our most-trusted data sources.

Karen Dam is a Data Analyst for CSRHub. Karen completed her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph, and a Master of Environmental Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough. She has enthusiastically filled research roles in the public sector. Karen has experiences in project management and research, including data collection and data management, analysis and synthesis. Karen actively volunteers with NGOs, including conservation authorities, to contribute to ecosystem protection, advocate environmental sustainability and of science literacy.

Bahar Gidwani is a Cofounder and CEO of CSRHub. Formerly, he was the CEO of New York-based Index Stock Imagery, Inc, from 1991 through its sale in 2006. He has built and run large technology-based businesses and has experience building a multi-million visitor Web site. Bahar holds a CFA, was a partner at Kidder, Peabody & Co., and worked at McKinsey & Co. Bahar has consulted to both large companies such as Citibank, GE, and Acxiom and a number of smaller software and Web-based companies. He has an MBA (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School and a BS in Astronomy and Physics (magna cum laude) from Amherst College. Bahar races sailboats, plays competitive bridge, and is based in New York City.

CSRHub provides access to corporate social responsibility and sustainability ratings and information on nearly 6,500 companies from 135 industries in 70 countries. By aggregating and normalizing the information from over 185 data sources, CSRHub has created a broad, consistent rating system and a searchable database that links millions of rating elements back to their source. Managers, researchers and activists use CSRHub to benchmark company performance, learn how stakeholders evaluate company CSR practices and seek ways to change the world.